Cloak-rack



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. RENTSGH.

GLOAK BACK. 7

No. 496,230. Patented Apr. 25, 1893.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE RENTSOH, OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA.

CiLOAK- RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 496,230, dated April 25, 1893.

Application filed December 9, 1392. Serial No. 454,638. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE RENTsoH, a citi zen of the United States, and a resident of Wheeling,in the county of Ohio and State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloak-Racks, of which the following is a specification.

I have produced a rack for displaying cloaks and other garments wherein I provide a novel folding fender device for a dust-cloth or cover, intended to .protect such dust protector from chafing or otherwise soiling the cloaks or other garments on the rack or pressing them out of shape, and which device is adapted to be folded within the rack-frame out of the way and without interfering with the garments. In cloak display racks the cloaks are supported so as to display the full set of the shoulders and keep them in shape, and it is important to cover them up at night and when cleaning up store, to protect them from the dirt. For this purpose I have designed a simple fender-device applied to the columns of the rack so as to be folded beneath the top rack-bar within the columns on each side of the rail on which the cloaks are suspended and without touching the shoulders of the cloaks, and making a compact attachment, appearing only as a part of the top rack-bar. consists of the novel fender-device in its combination with the ordinary column supported rack, as I will now describe and particularly point out in the claims concluding this specification.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown in Figure 1 a rack filled with cloaks and having my improved fender device for supporting the dust-cloth which is shown partially covering the rack. Fig. 2 shows the rack in perspective with the dust-cloth fender unfolded. Fig. 3 isavertical section of so much of the rack as shows the attachment of the For this purpose my invention columns are secured by top and bottom bars to base supports which are provided with wardrobe rollers, the rack-rail, being secured in the columns beneath the topbar, and supported by an eyed-screw in the middle of its length. The upper column-connecting bar a has a downward projecting tongue 12 extending its whole length and of a thickness about one-third the width of the standards at that point and standing in the middle of such width to form a central abutment,

for a purpose which I will presently state. A suitable distance below this top abutment on the inner sides of the columns and in coincident relation, are secured plates 0 c having a construction adapted to form pivotbearings and abutments for arms at d which are connected by bars e e on each sideof the rack, and which form a support and fender for a dust-cloth thrown over the rack. The arms I prefer to make of metal and to lap them to receive the pivot f which may be a screw, binding the ends of the arms together on the inner sides of the abutment-plates, by nuts g, which, fitting in recesses in the columns, are prevented from turning by the swinging folding and unfolding action of the fender-arms. For supporting these arms when unfolded in their function as dust-cloth supporters, I construct the pivot bearing-plates with abutments h h on their inner walls below the pivots and standing upward from a point vertically co-incident with said pivot, for supporting the arms at the desired upward inclination at each side of the rack. The arms are of a length just suited to be folded on each side of and against the top abutment, so that the fender-bars will be snug between the columns and flush with their outer sides just above the rack-rail and under the top column-connecting bar. To permit this folding movement of the arms the abutmentplates are open above the pivots and for this purpose I prefer to make the abutment-plates thick at the abutments and thin above so that they stand away from the columns above the pivot bearings. These abutment-plates also form shields to protect the goods from being caught and pinched between the arms and the columns in the folding and unfolding movements of the fender-bars. The abutment-plates are therefore secured to the colu mns by screws 2' z' passing through the lower thick parts of said plates. When the rack is in use for the display of goods, the dust-cloth is removed and the arms with their tenderbars are folded up under the top rack-bar, the arms standing against the inner sides of the columns, in which positions the fender-bars may be retained by buttons or sash-locks j on the top bar, and the dust-cloth supporting device will be out of the way. The fender-device will be compact-1y folded between the columns and above the goods as a part of the top rack-bar. When unfolded these fenderbars stand away from the rack at each side far enough to form, in connection with the top rack bar, three horizontal, parallel bars over which the cover or dust-cloth is thrown and supported as a canopy away from the goods so that it cannot wear or soil them or rest upon the shoulder parts of the cloaks which are hung by hooks in the usual way upon and along the rack-rail it which is just below the top rack-bar. This fender device can be applied to cloak racks now in use and when so applied constitutes a fixed attachment adapted to be folded entirely within the upper part of the rack as a part thereof and without interfering with the garments upon the rack.

In Fig. 2 the fender device is shown in dotted lines in its folded relation to the top abutment and column,and it is obvious that when so folded its fender-bars move and close with the top bar above the shoulders of the cloaks hanging on the rack-rail. The abutment may be formed as a part of the top bar, or by a separate bar, but however formed it should permit the closing of the fender bars beneath the top rack-bar against said abutment; or the abutment may be dispensed with. It is also obvious that the pivot-bearings and the abutment for the fender-arms may be variously constructed so long as they serve the purposes stated.

I claim as my improvement- 1. In combination, with a column connected frame and a rack-rail at the top thereof, arms pivotally connected in pairs to each column of said frame and bars connecting the free ends of said arms, whereby the said connecting bars are adapted to be folded on each side of and above the said rack-rail between the columns, and suitable stops for supporting said arms when turned out, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a column connected frame, the top bar whereof has an abutment on its under side, and a rack-rail below said abutment, arms pivotally connected in pairs to said columns, and bars connecting the free ends of said arms adapted to be folded against the opposite sides of said abutment, and suitable stops for supporting said arms when turned down, substantially as described.

The combination with the columned frame having a horizontal rack-rail at the upper part thereof and a horizontal top bar having a tongue on its under side centrally above said rack-rail, of arms pivoted to said columns in pairs and connected by bars on each side of said frame, and pivot-bearing plates for said arms formed with abutments and secured to said columns, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a columned cloak rack, of a fender device for a dust-cloth consisting of arms pivoted in pairs on the inner sides of the columns, horizontal bars connecting the free ends of said arms on each side of the rack, and suitable stops for sustaining the fender device when turned down and for holding it in folded position within the rack beneath its top bar, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a columned cloak rack, of fender-bars pivotally mounted upon the columns of said rack, in such relation to its top bar as to permit said fender bars to be folded compactly between said columns over the cloaks, and means for sustaining said fender-barsin unfolded positions on each side of said cloaks for the purpose stated.

6. The combination, with a columned cloak rack, of the fender-bars, the arms pivoted in pairs to each end of said rack,and the pivotbearing plates having the double abutments and secured to said rack with their upper ends open, whereby to permit the movement of the arms within said plates, to sustain said arms when turned down and to form shields to protect the cloaks from catching in the arms, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed this specification in the presence of witnesses.

lrE 0. RENTSCII.

lVitnesses:

Louis RENTsoH, ALBERT L. WILKIE, OSCAR P. MoKEE, Tnos. CARNAI-IAN, Jr. 

